


Chrysalis

by Patomac



Series: Writer's Month 2020 [8]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Science Fiction, Spaceships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:53:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25889908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Patomac/pseuds/Patomac
Summary: Callie finds a home aboard the Chrysalis.Eight drabbles, one for each member of the crew.
Series: Writer's Month 2020 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1862173
Kudos: 1
Collections: Writer's Month 2020





	Chrysalis

**Author's Note:**

> For Writer's Month Day 8: Eight

I dragged myself out of the condenser and shook like a wet dog. My jumpsuit was soaked with a viscous mixture of sweat and oil. It slicked my hair, my face, and my hands.

I retrieved my radio and called the bridge. “Fire it up.”

The condenser rumbled. Its typical whine escalated from thirty decibels to a hundred.

“Stop! Turn it off!” I shouted.

It was too late. The condenser shook and rattled and then belched a flood of black oil. It painted me from head to heel.

I wiped it out of my eyes with a sigh. It figured.

* * *

The ship skipped along the atmosphere like a breaching whale.

“Hoshiko—” the captain warned.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I got this.”

A blast of laser fire screeched off the port bow. Hoshiko pulled the ship into a dive.

My lunch threatened to come back up.

“Hoshiko!”

She dipped the ship, spun it, and then, quick as a flash, we climbed back out of atmo. “Olethe!”

“Got it.” Olethe flipped three switches. The _Chrysalis’_ FTL drives shuddered and we pulled away.

Hoshiko leaned back in the pilot’s chair. She grinned up at the Captain. “See? Told you I had it.”

* * *

Tiona was knee deep in medical supplies when I staggered in clutching my hand to my chest. She raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow at me. “Again?”

I could only nod in response.

She slathered me in burn gel with quick, practiced motions. Her touch was gentle, though she hid it with a scowl.

When she was finished, she handed me a small tube of gel. “You’ve got to be more careful. I’m good, but I can’t regrow your hand if you lose it.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, Mom.”

She rolled her eyes. “See if I don’t tell your mother.”

* * *

Olethe leaned back in her chair and propped her feet on the deck rail. “The fuck are you doing?”

My hands froze over the keyboard. “Programming the coordinates for Hyrallia?”

“Those are the coordinates for Hyrallia’s system. You’re going to navigate us into her sun.”

“Oh.”

I did a few calculations and input a new set of coordinates.

“Well, that won’t kill us,” Olethe said. “Until we run out of fuel.”

Heat rose to my cheeks. “How do you do this? How do you jump us in just right?”

Olethe crossed her arms behind her head. “I’m just that good.”

* * *

Three years ago, someone converted half of the ship’s hold into a suitable training gym. It had been Korr’s sanctuary ever since.

“You gotta feel the rhythm,” she told me. “A fight is like a dance. Like a conversation. You land a blow just right, and I swear it’s better than sex.”

I squared up against the battered punching bag. _Jab jab cross. Jab jab cross_.

“Like that?” I asked.

Korr adjusted my stance. Her hands gripped my shoulders.

I tried again, this time with her guidance and my power.

“Better?” I asked.

Korr’s smile glowed in her face. “Better.”

* * *

The bridge was on night cycle. No lights, emergency alerts only. The captain stood before the rail, nursing a cup of coffee.

She turned her head slightly. “What is it?”

“Brought your report,” I said. I extended my tablet to her. She perused it for a few moments in silence before returning it.

“I’ll see what I can do,” she said. “Mark what we need to survive.”

I nodded, but I didn’t leave. Instead, I turned to the viewport. A mass of stars glittered and twinkled behind the glass.

“It’s beautiful,” I said.

The captain nodded. “Yeah. It really is.” 

* * *

I cracked the door to my mother’s quarters. “Mom?”

She leaned up on her elbow. “What is it, baby?”

I bit my lip, struggling to find words.

A sad smile bloomed over my mother’s features. “Come here.”

I stepped over the threshold, gently shutting the door behind me. She moved over, and I crawled into the bed. She wrapped me up in her blanket like I was a kid again.

She stroked my hair. “Have I ever told you how proud I am of you?”

Heat flooded my cheeks. “Moooom…”

She chuckled. “Love you, Starshine,” she said. “Always and always.”

* * *

Long before I walked its deck, the _Chrysalis_ had been a technical marvel. Solid toughsteel plating, heat resistant to 5000 degrees. FTL with three rotating engines. Eight drum nav system tucked right below the bridge.

Now, the exoplating was constantly sheering off. The FTL was in a constant state of flux. The nav system was six cycles out of date. The heating system tended to freeze, and the coolant drives tended to overheat. And don’t even get me started on the ventilation.

Repairing it was a full-time job. My job. And thanks to its crew, I didn’t mind at all.


End file.
